Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Hi, I was wondering if somebody could help me. I'm new to superman comics and I am trying to read as much of the early stuff as I can. I've bought the Superman Archives Volume 1, Superman in the 50's, 60's and 70's aswell as Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. Are there any other books available which contain pre crisis stories? Thanks.

Welcome to the site!

Here are some of my favorites:

Superman : The Sunday Classics : Strips 1-183, (1939-1943)

This is the golden age Superman at his most fun outside of the Cartoons. The artwork looks better than the comics of that time.

Superman: Man of Tomorrow Archives: Volume 1

Vol.1 of the Sliver Age Superman Archives! A must have!

 Superman From the 30S to the 80S

This is an old classic book, mostly B&W reprints, you can get it cheap on Amazon.

Jimmy Olsen - Volume 1 : Adventures by Jack Kirby
Jimmy Olsen : Adventures by Jack Kirby - Volume 2 (Jimmy Olsen)

These two volumes collects Jack :King" Kirby's run on Jimmy Olsen in which he really cut loose!

Superman: Tales of the Bizarro World by Jerry Siegel

If you love the Bizarros and can't get enough of them, then you will want to get this.

Superman vs. The Flash

All the classic Superman/Flash Races in one handy TPB! This hasn't been release just yet as far as I know.

The Marvel/DC Collection - Crossover Classics, Vol. 1

Superman Vs Spiderman parts 1 and 2 and more stories with other characters, watch the Hulk get owned by Superman and more :)

Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Alan Moore  official unofficial big send off to the Classic Superman, these were the last re-boot Superman comics made.
 
Belive it or not there are a lot more :D

There is also the older Superman: From the '30s to the '70s, which was my first introduction to Superman in the comics back in 1982.  It has a lot of the same stories as it's '80s counterpart, but when you get to the '60s and '70s the stories differ.  The older volume is also a tad bit taller than the "newer" edition, but both are well worth having.

I have Superman: From the '30s to the '70s, but since he can actually buy the other one on Amazon, I listed that one.

More Superman Books!

Superman Archives, Vol. 1
Superman Archives, Vol. 2
Superman Archives, Vol. 3
Superman Archives, Vol. 4
Superman Archives, Vol. 5
Superman Archives, Vol. 6
Superman: World's Finest Comics Archives, Vol. 1
Superman: The Action Comics - Archives, Vol. 1
Superman: The Action Comics - Archives, Vol. 2
Superman: The Action Comics - Archives, Vol. 3
Superman: The Action Comics - Archives, Vol. 4
World's Finest Comics Archives, Vol. 1
World's Finest Comics Archives, Vol. 2

I think DC have, confusingly, published two books called The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told (if the titles are not exactly the same they are very similar) - I reckon the one that came out about 18 years ago is the vastly superior one, as well as being a much heftier book, than the one that came out last year.

I also think any of the 1970s tabloid books featuring Superman are well worth getting, although they may be a bit harder to come by. Some of them are all reprint, some all new stories (such as Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, vs. Shazam, etc.)

Old new and best one: Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told

New one that is not worth getting: Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

http://home.nethere.net/tomhartley/smot/

I found this site, but I can't find any mention of Another Man of Tomorrow Archives anywhere else, never mind 21 of them. Are all of these non existent then? Does anyone know if there are plans to release Volume 2 soon?

Those are mock ups (fakes) created by a fan of what he wish DC would do.

As far as I know, there are only an Action Comics one plan for this year, #4 I belive.

DC is super slow when it comes to releasing these things.

Yeah, but on the other hand if they released too many of the Archive Editions it would flood the market.  $50 a pop is a lot for the average fan to spend.

My hope is that if the BATMAN CHRONICLES is successful that they will do the same with Superman.

I have yet to pay $50 for any of my archives. Most of they can be had for the price of a normal TPB.

Lucky you.  Most of the places around here have them for the cover price.  Of course I haven't tried Ebay yet, where I have seen some cheaper prices.

just go to Amazon.com they have them at good prices.

Superman Archives - Volume 1 has just been re-released for $19.95 retail and Amazon has it for $13.57.

Thanks for the tip.  I keep meaning to get around to checking out Amazon.com.  I actually managed to get the first two volumes at a used book/comic book store for about ten bucks a piece, but that was a fluke.

I'm planning on buying some late 80's superman comics from e-bay, I have asked the seller if they are first prints and he has said "I think so". How can I tell if they are reprints or not? thanks

The best way to find out if a comic from that era is to look at all the little legal mumbo jumbo at the bottom of the splash page and see if it says second or third printing.  Usually it written in a different font than the rest of the wording.

Around 1988/1989 DC released reprints of their books in three packs that were mostly sold at toy stores.  The interesting thing about these printing is that the ads and the back cover all matched books published years afterwards.  So one of the copies of Superman (vol. 2) #3 I owned and a copy of a Batman book published in 1987 had ads from 1989, strange as it sounds.

Later on DC would put roman numerals to denote what printing the book was.

My suggestion is to ask the seller if any of the comics have 2nd printing listed in the places listed above.

Could someone tell me which issue has Luthor punching superman with the kryptonite ring? thanks